A LANDMARK Victorian city centre building can now be converted into offices and apartments after a conservation watchdog English Heritage withdrew its objections.

Plans to convert the ornate Methodist Central Hall from a nightclub into offices, a restaurant, bar and 47 studio apartments were approved by the council’s planning committee.

The redbrick and terracotta building, most recently used as the Que Club, has spent much of the last six years wrapped in scaffolding and advertising banners while various development schemes have faltered due to strict preservation order.

Planning permission was granted after architects amended the scheme following criticism from English Heritage. Chairman of the planning committee Peter Douglas Osborn said: “There have been so many planning applications it is a relief to finally have a scheme we can agree on.’’

The firm’s construction director Steve Jackson, construction director with the The Developments Factory which is behind the £20 million project said: “We are fully committed and extremely excited about returning this superb historic building to its former glory.”

Members of the planning committee were concerned at the number of studio flats in the scheme as they have proved hard to let in recent years.

They were told that the historic structure of the building made it impossible to sub-divide and that the flats would be large.

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